Tory pick for privacy watchdog faces grilling in Commons and Senate

FILE - In this Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2013 photo illustration, hands type on a computer keyboard in Los Angeles. In the wake of the Heartbleed security threat, many security experts recommend a second layer of authentication _ typically in the form of a numeric code sent as a text message. You enter that code on the website to verify that it's really you and not a hacker who doesn't have your phone.

The government’s new choice for privacy commissioner is set to face a grilling before parliamentarians amid mounting political opposition in the Commons and Senate.

The Conservatives picked Daniel Therrien to be privacy commissioner, ignoring the preference of the selection committee, a source familiar with the matter told Postmedia News.

Since the announcement last week that the 33-year veteran of the Department of Justice would be the country’s top privacy watchdog, provincial commissioners and privacy advocates have heaped criticism on the government for the selection.

The selection committee, which included former B.C. privacy commissioner David Flaherty, had preferred Lisa Campbell, a rising star at the Competition Bureau, as the person to replace the outspoken Jennifer Stoddart, according to a source familiar with the selection process.

Treasury Board President Tony Clement interviewed both candidates, at which point, the source said, “things went off the rails.”

Clement would neither confirm nor deny anything about what the committee recommended.

“There were two people recommended by the search committee to me. I interviewed those two people, and I made my recommendation to the prime minister,” Clement told reporters on Parliament Hill.

The House of Commons and Senate must still ratify Therrien’s appointment, but political opposition is building.

The NDP may find an ally Tuesday in the Senate Liberals, who are equally concerned about Therrien’s qualifications. In separate letters seeking feedback on Therrien’s selection, NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair and Senate Liberal leader James Cowan raised concerns to Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Mulcair warned that since Therrien was involved in establishing privacy rules around the Canada-U.S. security perimeter deal, he can’t properly review those rules as commissioner: “It would be imprudent to place a former civil servant in charge of warning the public about policies he helped design and implement,” Mulcair wrote.

Cowan was equally critical. In a letter to Harper, Cowan pointed to the job posting that said the ideal candidate would have a record of “championing privacy interests.”

Therrien’s job history, Cowan wrote, showed “little evidence of such championing of privacy interests” and more work in the areas of national security and defence.

“This gives rise to question … whether he will be overly sensitive to the needs of the security and intelligence (and) police community at the expense of Canadians’ privacy,” reads the letter obtained by the Citizen.

In the House of Commons Monday, Harper dismissed concerns about Therrien’s past, saying he was highly qualified for the job.

(In his letter to Harper, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau said Therrien would be “an excellent candidate for this position.”)

Therrien faces MPs on a Commons committee in the morning. He faces the Senate as a whole for questioning in the afternoon.

Combined, it amounts to what will likely be a tough day for Therrien and the government, which is already facing criticism from privacy advocates for legislation that would grant legal immunity to telecom companies that hand over Canadians’ private information without a warrant, and grant easier access to metadata.

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